San Antonio, TX Tree Protection: Protected Tree Species (2026)

Sec. 35-523(f)(1)(A) makes six inches DBH the default threshold for a 'significant tree,' the baseline protected category under San Antonio's tree preservation ordinance, but eleven species carry their own threshold. Ashe juniper, huisache, mesquite, Arizona ash and hackberry become significant only at 10 inches DBH because they are common, fast-spreading natives; Texas persimmon, Texas redbud, Texas mountain laurel, condalia, floodplain possum haw and hawthorne become significant at just five inches because those species rarely grow large. Multi-trunk trees are measured by taking the largest trunk's full diameter and adding 50 percent of the diameter of each additional trunk, and each listed species must have at least one trunk larger than the size threshold set for that species, five inches for the small species, ten inches for the large species, to qualify at all.

Once a tree crosses its species threshold, Table 523-1A requires developers to preserve 35 percent of significant-tree diameter inches on single-family lots and 40 percent on multi-family and nonresidential sites, plus every single-family builder must plant two 1.5-inch caliper native canopy trees per lot. Up to 80 percent of the preservation requirement can instead be satisfied through mitigation at a 1:1 replacement ratio under Table 523-2, except Ash, Hackberry, Huisache, Ashe Juniper and Mesquite, which always mitigate at 1:1 regardless of size class. The city arborist can grant a diversity exception, capping any single replacement species at no more than 25 percent of the trees planted for mitigation.